This invention relates to an apparatus and method for protecting the branches of trees in preparation for their subsequent harvesting and shipment. The branches of evergreen trees, in particular, must be protected from damage that would likely occur during harvesting for transplanting and shipment. This task is conventionally accomplished by the tedious task of manually wrapping each tree with twine in preparation for its removal from the earth in which it is growing. In the case of large wholesale nurseries, the trees remain tied and are shipped out. In the case of smaller nurseries and local landscape companies, the tied trees are moved to a different location, heeled in, and untied within a few days. Trees destined for customers of a retail nursery or landscape company are selected from a bin full of trees. Tied trees that have been moved to a bin are difficult to untie and retie because they are binned very close to each other. A tree selected for a customer from a bin must first be retied for the customer before it is loaded into his vehicle. On the other hand, trees selected for a landscape contractor are generally placed untied on a truck because of the difficulties encountered in tying binned trees. However, the untied trees take up considerably more space on the truck and are much more subject to damage in transport. The manual twine wrapping technique of the prior art is also disadvantageous in that it consumes tremendous amounts of twine that generally cannot be reused and therefore must be disposed of following unwrapping. Proper tying of a tree so as to prevent damage is also time consuming and requires skilled workmen. Even so, potential for damage exists at each point at which the twine crosses a branch. Finally, twine tying tends to deform the natural shape of a tree. Since trees are usually selected for their shape, a deformed appearance caused by bent or drooping branches contacted by twine is disappointing to the end customer.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a greatly improved apparatus and method for protectively embracing the branches of growing trees that are to be removed from the earth and transported to other locations for transplanting. This and other objects of the invention are accomplished by providing alternative tree branch corsets that may be quickly and easily installed to substantially cover the tree branches and to naturally, compressively embrace them in a manner that does not result in a deformed appearance when the tree branch corset is later removed. In accordance with one illustrated embodiment of the present invention, a tree branch corset comprises a generally rectangular piece of cordura or other somewhat tightly woven fabric, slightly gathered along the bottom edge thereof, and having a plurality of sets of mating fasteners attached along the two side edges. The bottom several sets of mating fasteners are first buckled around the trunk of the tree. The tree branch corset is then lifted into a somewhat funnel-shaped position around the tree while each subsequently higher set of mating fasteners is in turn buckled, progressively compressing the tree branches upward until the tree branch corset is finally in place substantially covering and protectively embracing the branches of the tree. When desired, the tree branch corset may be quickly removed from the tree by simply unbuckling each of the sets of mating fasteners, at which point it is ready for use again on another tree. In accordance with an alternative illustrated embodiment of the present invention, a tree branch corset comprises a generally rectangular piece of inexpensive webbing or netting material that also includes a plurality of sets of mating fasteners attached along two opposite edges thereof. A generally funnel-shaped corset holder fixture holds the disposable tree branch corset in a vertically pleated position adjacent the trunk of the tree. The plurality of sets of mating fasteners are then simultaneously coupled and the corset holder fixture is then pulled upward, gradually unpleating the disposable tree branch corset until it is completely unpleated in position to protectively embrace substantially all of the branches of the tree.